The Phillies Zone

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ah yes, baseball is not over. They will play the World Series without the Phillies for the first time in three years.

That doesn't mean this series between the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants fails to offer intrigue for those back in Philadelphia. You know, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is starting Game 1 for the Rangers.

Some Phillies, Jayson Werth included, will be watching Cliff Lee on TV.

"I'm interested to see Cliff pitch Game 1," Werth said Monday.

Well, Lee was interested in the Phillies too. He was watching the National League Championship Series. Oh, he was watching closely.

"Kind of mixed emotions, to be honest with you," Lee said of how he watched the games. "I pulled for a lot of those guys, but it's weird, when a team gets rid of you, you kind of like seeing them lose a little bit."

Hoo boy.

"I know that's weird," Lee continued, "but part of me wanted them to win where I could face them in the World Series, too. It would have been a lot of fun."

No doubt, it would have. Instead of Lee-Tim Lincecum, it could have been Lee-Roy Halladay in Game 1 at Citizens Bank Park, with Lee -- a beloved figure in Philadelphia -- on the mound for the opposing team.

Lee said he would have enjoyed that.

"When a team gets rid of you, it's funny how you have a knack for stepping up a little more when you face them," he said. "There's a little more incentive to beat them, and that's definitely the case with me watching the game.

"I was in between. I didn't want to have to face them or want to have to face the Giants. I let that series play out, and I pulled for those guys individually, but I didn't mind seeing them get beat, either, just because they got rid of me. That is what it is."